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User blog:I am that guy/"First Contact, Condition: Red"
This is a WIP ---- -Baltic League Caelmare Center-of-Operations, Codename: Hancock- Commodore Kaznizki was skimming the daily system test results, when he noticed his communications officer jerk up from his reclined position is his chair. The officer adjusted controls on his panel before turning to Kaznizki with a face pale with shock. "Priority comm from Vindicator, level 1", the officer reported. Kaznizki heard someone inhale sharply between their teeth, and rightly so: level 1 priority is a literal "drop everything and listen" signal. Whatever Pulaski, who Kaznizki had learned to regard as a friend, had to say, it was important. "Main speakers", he ordered. The comm officer gave a brisk nod before pressing the button that transferred the communication to the overhead speakers. "This is Captain Pulaski, Charlie-Oscar ''Vindicator, Bravo-Charlie-four-two-niner, we have been engaged by unknown hostiles. This is a probable First Contact, Condition: Red. Vindicator has sustained heavy damage via large caliber guns and heavy missiles. This is a Black Mayday: escape not possible. Vindicator clear."'' There was a pin-drop silence that settled over the command station as the message sank in. "First Contact", was used to identify an unknown threat that's was most likely never encountered before: "Condition: Red" identified that said unknown threat had fired without warning and provocation was unknown. "Black Mayday" was the bleakest, it was a call sent when the survival of the ship and/or the crew was unlikely. Kaznizki processed the rest of the information in mere heartbeats, as well has his possible responses. He held great autonomy out in this fringe outpost, but his power was far from unlimited. There was one thing he needed to know first. "Where is the comms origin? And what's in the vicinity?" he asked. The communications officer visibly shook himself and gained a hold of his pale-faced expression. "The signal originates roughly 450 klicks to the northwest, and about 75 klicks from the outer islands of that archipelago." He transferred the data onto a map on the main holographic display, a signal blinking crimson dot marked the location of the signals origin. Kaznizki grimaced, that was exactly in the direction of the radar ping he had sent Vindicator searching after several days before. A spike of guilt surged in him, but he quickly extinguished it. "Mark a circular, 75-klick no-go zone around the center of that archipelago. Recall all single ships out on expeditions: I believe there's just Baltica and Avenger. Then contact Admiral Soumi up in orbit, inform him of the situation and see on being allotted time for cloud-penetrating-satellites. Then," he sighed, "see what the ETA on reinforcements is: we are going to be spread mighty thin with fourteen, . . . thirteen ships." As he rattled off orders, a corner of Kaznizkis mind began speculating: what killed Vindicator, is this threat a recognized body (like the AIF and SAA), or something completely new entirely, what was their motive for firing on Vindicator, he knew "provocation" was subjective, but this just seemed blatant. Whatever the case, Kaznizki knew that something out there had killed his friend, and the four hundred men and women on his ship. Category:Blog posts